Re: Video card problem

On Sun, Oct 22, 2006 at 11:40:43AM -0600, Keith Brown wrote:
>
> I took the card back yesterday and was told that this temperature is
> normal for the card operating under load. I was also told that the heat
> sink can be hotter than the chip. Now, I don't know what the normal
> operating temperature for the graphics chip is but I do know that if the
> chip is emitting heat and the heat sink is getting rid of it, the
> temperature of the heat sink cannot possibly be higher than the chip.
> Otherwise the heat flow would be in the other direction. This is basic
> physics of which I am more than a little aware.

Yup, I know I fell asleep in a few too many heat transfer classes in 4th
year but I'm pretty sure the only way the heat sink can get hotter than the
chip is if the air in the case is hotter than the chip. The one exception
would be if the chip in question was a peltier (aka thermoelectic cooler)
which is basically a semiconductor that electrically transfers heat from
one side to the other. I don't think they're very common in computers so
I'd call BS.

It could be that there is not enough airflow around the video card to take
the heat away fast enough. Did the vendor test in your computer or a
different one? Was the case open or closed?
Received on Sun Oct 22 15:45:52 2006